Graphical user interface for a database system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for improved interactive graphical user interfaces. The system allows users to visually construct queries of a database. The system can dynamically generate visual representations of supplemental data and cumulative data. Users can share annotations related to user input queries via the graphical user interface.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.

This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 62/509,634 entitled “Graphical User Interface for a DatabaseSystem” filed May 22, 2017, which is hereby incorporated by reference inits entirety.

BACKGROUND

In the area of computer-based platforms, a database may be queried.

SUMMARY

The systems, methods, and devices described herein each have severalaspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirableattributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure, severalnon-limiting features will now be discussed briefly.

One embodiment includes a method for a graphical user interface to queryan item database, the method comprising: receiving, from a userinterface, item input comprising an item related query parameter;executing a query based at least on the item related query parameter toretrieve item results; receiving, from the user interface, supplementalinput comprising an input time period and a supplemental item relatedquery parameter; retrieving a plurality of supplemental data items basedat least on the supplemental item related query parameter; identifying afirst subset of the plurality of supplemental data items and a secondsubset of the plurality of supplemental data items according to theinput time period, the first subset corresponding to a first timeperiod, and the second subset corresponding to a second time period;determining a first efficacy indicator for the first subset and a secondefficacy indicator for the second subset; determining a ranking based atleast on the first efficacy indicator and the second efficacy indicator;generating, according to the ranking, a first visual representationcorresponding to the first subset and a second visual representationcorresponding to the second subset; arranging the first visualrepresentation at least partly separated from the second visualrepresentation; and presenting, in the user interface, the item results,the first visual representation, and the second visual representation,wherein the first visual representation the second visual representationare further presented with respect to a timeline indicating the firsttime period and the second time period, wherein the method is performedby a computer hardware processor.

In some embodiments, the method of the preceding paragraph can include acombination or sub-combination of features. Generating the first visualrepresentation can further comprise: retrieving a default height;calculating a first height for the first visual representation, whereinthe first height is further based at least on a relationship R, whereinrelationship R is defined substantially as: default height*E₁, where E₁comprises the first efficacy indicator; and adjusting the first visualrepresentation to the first height. The ranking can comprise a firstrank and a second rank, and generating the first visual representationand the second visual representation can further comprise: determining afirst color or shading corresponding to at least one of the first rankor the first efficacy indicator; determining a second color or shadingcorresponding to at least one of the second rank or the second efficacyindicator, the second color or shading different from the first color orshading; assigning the first color or shading to the first visualrepresentation; and assigning the second color or shading to the secondvisual representation. The ranking can comprise a first rank and asecond rank, the first rank can correspond to the first visualrepresentation, the second rank can correspond to the second visualrepresentation, and arranging the first visual representation at leastpartly separated from the second visual representation can furthercomprise: determining that one of the first rank and the second rank islower; and bringing a respective visual representation to a foregroundor background, the one of the first rank and the second rankcorresponding to the respective visual representation. The item resultscan comprise a plurality of first data value pairs, and presenting theitem results in the user interface can further comprise presenting theplurality of first data value pairs as a first graph, the method canfurther comprise: receiving user input comprising a cumulative optionselection; calculating a plurality of cumulative data value pairs,wherein calculating the plurality of cumulative data value pairscomprises: calculating a current cumulative value from a previouscumulative value and a current data value from the plurality of firstdata value pairs; and presenting, in an updated user interface, theplurality of cumulative data value pairs as a cumulative graph.Determining a first efficacy indicator for the first subset can furthercomprise: determining a first metric for the first time period and anitem; determining a historical metric for another time period differentthan the first time period and the item; and determining a differencevalue between the first metric and the historical metric, wherein thefirst efficacy indicator is based at least in part on the differencevalue. Arranging the first visual representation can further comprise:retrieving a start date and an end date for the first time period; andaligning the first visual representation on the timeline according tothe start date and the end date. Presenting, in the user interface, theitem results can further comprise: presenting the plurality of firstdata value pairs as a first graph.

Another embodiment includes a system comprising: a non-transitorycomputer storage medium configured to at least store computer-executableinstructions; and one or more computer hardware processors incommunication with the non-transitory computer storage medium, the oneor more computer hardware processors configured to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to at least: receive, from a userinterface, item input comprising an item related query parameter;retrieve item results based at least on the item related queryparameter; receive, from the user interface, supplemental inputcomprising an input time period and a supplemental item related queryparameter; retrieve a plurality of supplemental data items based atleast on the supplemental item related query parameter; identify a firstsubset of the plurality of supplemental data items and a second subsetof the plurality of supplemental data items according to the input timeperiod, the first subset corresponding to a first time period, and thesecond subset corresponding to a second time period; determine a firstefficacy indicator for the first subset and a second efficacy indicatorfor the second subset; determine a ranking based at least on the firstefficacy indicator and the second efficacy indicator; generate,according to the ranking, a first visual representation corresponding tothe first subset and a second visual representation corresponding to thesecond subset; arrange the first visual representation at least partlyseparated from the second visual representation; and present, in theuser interface, the item results, the first visual representation, andthe second visual representation, wherein the first visualrepresentation the second visual representation are further presentedwith respect to a timeline indicating the first time period and thesecond time period.

In some embodiments, the system of the preceding paragraph can include acombination or sub-combination of features. Generating the first visualrepresentation can further comprise: retrieving a default height;calculating a first height for the first visual representation, whereinthe first height is further based at least on a relationship R, whereinrelationship R is defined substantially as: default height*E₁, where E₁comprises the first efficacy indicator; and adjusting the first visualrepresentation to the first height. The ranking can comprise a firstrank and a second rank, and generating the first visual representationand the second visual representation can further comprise: determining afirst color or shading corresponding to at least one of the first rankor the first efficacy indicator; determining a second color or shadingcorresponding to at least one of the second rank or the second efficacyindicator, the second color or shading different from the first color orshading; assigning the first color or shading to the first visualrepresentation; and assigning the second color or shading to the secondvisual representation. The ranking can comprise a first rank and asecond rank, the first rank can correspond to the first visualrepresentation, the second rank can correspond to the second visualrepresentation, and arranging the first visual representation at leastpartly separated from the second visual representation can furthercomprise: determining that one of the first rank and the second rank islower; and bringing a respective visual representation to a foregroundor background, the one of the first rank and the second rankcorresponding to the respective visual representation. Arranging thefirst visual representation can further comprise: retrieving a startdate and an end date for the first time period; and aligning the firstvisual representation on the timeline according to the start date andthe end date. The item results can comprise a plurality of first datavalue pairs, and wherein one or more computer hardware processors can befurther configured to at least: calculate a plurality of cumulative datavalue pairs, wherein calculating the plurality of cumulative data valuepairs comprises: calculate a current cumulative value from a previouscumulative value and a current data value from the plurality of firstdata value pairs; and present, in an updated user interface, theplurality of cumulative data value pairs as a cumulative graph.Presenting, in the user interface, the item results can furthercomprise: presenting the plurality of first data value pairs as a firstgraph. Determining a first efficacy indicator for the first subset canfurther comprise: determining a first metric for the first time periodand an item; determining a historical metric for another time perioddifferent than the first time period and the item; and determining adifference value between the first metric and the historical metric,wherein the first efficacy indicator is based at least in part on thedifference value.

Another embodiment includes a non-transitory computer storage medium forstoring computer executable instructions that when executed by acomputer hardware processor perform operations of any of the precedingembodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example graphical userinterface system, according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 are flowcharts illustrating example graphical user interfacegeneration and querying methods, according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method of generating graphical userinterfaces for supplemental data, according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 4 are flowcharts of example methods of generating graphical userinterfaces for cumulative data and for sharing annotations, according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example graphical user interface for presentationof supplemental information, according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates another example graphical user interface forpresentation of supplemental information, according to some embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrates an example graphical user interface forpresentation of cumulative and/or forecast information, according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example graphical user interface for presentationof annotated information, according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example graphical userinterface system with which various methods and systems discussed hereinmay be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although certain preferred embodiments and examples are disclosed below,inventive subject matter extends beyond the specifically disclosedembodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses and tomodifications and equivalents thereof. Thus, the scope of the claimsappended hereto is not limited by any of the particular embodimentsdescribed below. For example, in any method or process disclosed herein,the acts or operations of the method or process may be performed in anysuitable sequence and are not necessarily limited to any particulardisclosed sequence. Various operations may be described as multiplediscrete operations in turn, in a manner that may be helpful inunderstanding certain embodiments; however, the order of descriptionshould not be construed to imply that these operations are orderdependent. Additionally, the structures, systems, and/or devicesdescribed herein may be embodied as integrated components or as separatecomponents. For purposes of comparing various embodiments, certainaspects and advantages of these embodiments are described. Notnecessarily all such aspects or advantages are achieved by anyparticular embodiment. Thus, for example, various embodiments may becarried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage orgroup of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving otheraspects or advantages as may also be taught or suggested herein.

Terms

In order to facilitate an understanding of the systems and methodsdiscussed herein, a number of terms are defined below. The terms definedbelow, as well as other terms used herein, should be construed broadlyto include the provided definitions, the ordinary and customary meaningof the terms, and/or any other implied meaning for the respective terms.Thus, the definitions below do not limit the meaning of these terms, butonly provide exemplary definitions.

Ontology: Stored information that provides a data model for storage ofdata in one or more databases. For example, the stored data may comprisedefinitions for object types and property types for data in a database,and how objects and properties may be related.

Database: Any data structure (and/or combinations of multiple datastructures) for storing and/or organizing data, including, but notlimited to, relational databases (e.g., Oracle databases, mySQLdatabases, etc.), non-relational databases (e.g., NoSQL databases,etc.), in-memory databases, spreadsheets, as comma separated values(CSV) files, eXtendible markup language (XML) files, TeXT (TXT) files,flat files, spreadsheet files, and/or any other widely used orproprietary format for data storage. Databases are typically stored inone or more data stores. Accordingly, each database referred to herein(e.g., in the description herein and/or the figures of the presentapplication) is to be understood as being stored in one or more datastores. The terms “database,” “table,” and “data source” may be usedinterchangeably in the present disclosure.

Data Store: Any computer readable non-transitory storage medium and/ordevice (or collection of data storage mediums and/or devices). Examplesof data stores include, but are not limited to, optical disks (e.g.,CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.), magnetic disks (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks,etc.), memory circuits (e.g., solid state drives, random-access memory(RAM), etc.), and/or the like. Another example of a data store is ahosted storage environment that includes a collection of physical datastorage devices that may be remotely accessible and may be rapidlyprovisioned as needed (commonly referred to as “cloud” storage). As usedherein, a data source may refer to a table in a relational database, forexample.

Data Object (Object), Data Item (Item), or Data Entity (Entity): A datacontainer for information. A data object may be associated with a numberof definable properties (as described herein). A data object mayrepresent a specific thing, or a group of things, in the world. Forexample, a data object may represent an item such as a particular typeof product, a food item, person, a place, an organization, an account, acomputer, an activity, or other noun. In a food item context, an itemmay correspond to a specific food product. Example entities include anorganization, a distribution center, a distributor, a retailer, aretailer division, a location establishment, or a store. In someembodiments, an item may correspond to a particular item identifier. Inthe food example, an item identifier may be a Universal Product Code(“UPC”). In some embodiments, if a food product includes an ingredientlist A at time one, and the food product includes an ingredient list Bat time two (which differs from ingredient list A by at least oneingredient), then the item corresponding to the food product at time onemay differ from the item corresponding to the food product at time two.A data item may represent an event that happens at a point in time orfor a duration. A data item may represent a document or otherunstructured data source such as an e-mail message, a news report, or awritten paper or article. Each data item may be associated with a uniqueidentifier that uniquely identifies the data item. The terms “dataobject,” “data item,” “data entity,” “item,” “object,” and “entity” maybe used interchangeably and/or synonymously in the present disclosure.

Item (or Entity or Object) Type: Type of a data item (for example,Person, Event, or Document). Data item types may be defined by anontology and may be modified or updated to include additional data itemtypes. A data item definition (for example, in an ontology) may includehow the data item is related to other data items, such as being asub-data item type of another data item type (for example, an agent maybe a sub-data item of a person data item type), and the properties thedata item type may have.

Properties: Also referred to herein as “metadata” of data items. Aproperty of a data item may include any item of information associatedwith, and/or relevant to, the data item. At a minimum, each property ofa data item has a property type and a value or values. For example,properties associated with a person data item may include a name (forexample, John Doe), an address (for example, 123 S. Orange Street),and/or a phone number (for example, 800-0000), among other properties.In another example, properties associated with a computer data item mayinclude a list of users (for example, user1, user 2, and the like),and/or an IP (internet protocol) address, among other properties.

Property Type: The type of data a property is, such as a string, aninteger, or a double. Property types may include complex property types,such as a series data values associated with timed ticks (for example, atime series), and the like.

Property Value: The value associated with a property, which is of thetype indicated in the property type associated with the property. Aproperty may have multiple values.

Attribute: A string, word, group of words, and/or tag associated with anitem. For example, an item, such as a candy bar, may be associated withingredients and/or a number of descriptors, name of product, flavors,season of the product (e.g., Valentine's Day or the Fourth of July),etc. Attributes of the item describe and/or relate to the item. Exampleattributes for a particular item, such as a particular candy bar, may beone or more of: “crunchy,” “chocolate,” “peanut butter,” “whole grain,”“bold,” “noble,” “layered,” etc. In some embodiments, “peanut butter”and “peanut butter” may refer to the same attribute and/or the formermay refer to the presentation of the attribute in a user interface andthe latter may refer to representation of the attribute in theunderlying database and/or system. In some embodiments, an attribute ofan item may be a property of the item. Further, one or more attributesmay be associated with a particular item and/or two or more items may beassociated same attribute. An example attribute may be represented by alabel that corresponds to multiple words and/or phrases associated withsame attribute. For example, “crumbly” may be the label for a particularattribute, which is representative of multiple words such as “crumbled,”“crumbly,” and “crumble.” An advantage of the algorithms and/ortechniques described herein is that the determined attributes may behigh-level concepts associated with an item. In a food item example,attributes for a food item may correspond to concepts that are notdirectly related to a flavor or ingredient, such as, for example,“noble,” “liberty,” “peruvian,” etc.

Category: The class of an item. In some embodiments, the category of anitem may be a property of the item. For example, particular items may bedetermined to correspond to one or more categories. Continuing with thefood item example, the various categories may correspond to “candy,”“salty snacks,” “cookie,” etc. In some embodiments, an item may bedetermined to correspond to two or more categories. In otherembodiments, categories may correspond to the particular environmentsuch as electronics, manufacturing, or other areas.

Product: Refers to an item group. In some embodiments, “product” may bea property of the item. For example, particular items may be determinedto correspond to one or more products. Two or more items may correspondto the same product. Continuing with the food example, the product maybe “Acme's cookies,” which may include two or more items that areassociated with “Acme's cookies,” but each item may have differentingredients (such as different flavors for each item), differentproperties, and/or item identifiers. Usage of the product grouping mayallow several items and/or UPCs to be analyzed together. For example,different UPCs may refer to the regular, large, and king sizes (i.e., apack type) of essentially the same item, and usage of the product groupallows the particular items to be analyzed and/or queried together. Insome embodiments, the product group may allow a broad number of items tobe associated together, such as all or most of the items by a particularmanufacturer, retailer, and/or organization to be grouped together. Asused herein, “brand,” “item group,” “product,” may be usedinterchangeably. Product and category may be similar in that eachrespective term refers to a higher level description of an item.

Investigation: A collection of data corresponding to a query and/orvisualization. For example, the collection may correspond to a datastructure that specifies one or more query parameters associated withuser interface options, as described herein. The collection of dataand/or parameters may be communicated and/or shared with another user orrecipient. For example, the graphical user interface system may share aninvestigation via a uniform resource identifier with the parametersand/or a unique identifier for the particular query and/orvisualization. Additionally or alternatively, a shared investigation maybe available to another user and/or recipient via a user interface of agraphical user interface system. In some embodiments, the collection ofdata may include the results corresponding to the query and/or theresults may be stored in a data source.

Supplemental (Information or Data): Any type of information and/or datathat may be related to the initial data item and/or be of interest tothe user. A supplemental data item may include any form of digitalcontent. Example supplemental data includes promotional data. Forexample, in a product context, promotional data includes when particularprograms start or end, particular entity establishments that implementthe programs, particular entity establishments that do not implement theprograms, associations with particular items and/or products, historicaldata, and/or statistically computed data from the historical data.Continuing with the promotional product example, example promotions maybe 20% off program or a buy one get one free promotion for a brand, aspecific product, and/or item. For example, following Valentine's Day,there may be a sale of 30% off candy bars. Additional promotionalexamples include placing physical signs and/or advertisements within oneor more entity establishments.

Overview

Analysts may be interested in investigating enormous data sets todetermine insights associated with items from the data sets.Additionally or alternatively, users may be interested in viewingintegrated summary data from the enormous data sets. The data sets maybe from multiple disparate data sources that include gigabytes,terabytes, or even petabytes of data. The integrated data sets may needto be queried to provide a dynamic investigation and/or summary userinterface.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods that may be used toadvantageously provide user interfaces that enable a user to investigateand/or view integrated data sets. The system may enable user todynamically construct and execute one or more queries via an improvedgraphical user interface. For example, in addition to enabling a user todynamically query a database and present a result set as a firstvisualization, such as a time series graph, the system further enables auser to select supplemental data that can be dynamically presented as asecond visualization, such as one or more bar graphs, which are alsopresented with the first visualization. The second visualization can bedynamically generated and presented within the user interface accordingto a ranking. As another example, the system can dynamically presentand/or generate one or more cumulative visualizations. Continuing withthe cumulative example, a result set can be presented as a firstvisualization, such as a time series graph. Upon selection of thecumulative option, the first visualization can be transformed into asecond visualization, which presents a cumulative version of theunderlying data of the first visualization. Continuing with thecumulative example, the cumulative version may be a running total of theunderlying data associated with the first visualization, which mayenable a user to determine the velocity of a product and/or item, suchas how quickly the product and/or item is being sold. As yet anotherexample, the system can dynamically present one or more annotations thatmay be temporally or otherwise related to the data that is visuallypresented in the graphical user interface. Accordingly, a first user mayshare annotated data with a second user based on the annotated databeing associated with a query of the second user.

Users may conduct analysis with existing graphical user interfaces suchas spreadsheet applications. The existing graphical user interfacesrequire a user to manually integrate data and to manually correlate thedata to attempt to identify patterns or insights. This approach withexisting graphical user interfaces, such as spreadsheet applications,typically results in large manually constructed tables of data of manyhundreds or thousands of rows. Thus, adding new data to the existingdata sets may have to be manually done. Further, maintaining localdatabases on client computers via the existing graphical user interfacescan result in slower processing and/or error prone data analysis of thelocal databases. Ultimately, it may be difficult for users to identifypatterns or insights at all or in a consistent manner using the existinggraphical user interfaces. Further, the capability to generatevisualizations with the existing graphical user interfaces may belimited or may not exist.

Accordingly, the systems and techniques described herein may improvecomputer technology and/or graphical user interfaces. For example, theimproved graphical user interfaces may not require manual integration ofdata sets. The improved graphical user interfaces may enable rapidconstruction of database queries where the results of the queries may bedynamically presented. For example, supplemental information, such aspromotional data, may be dynamically presented with the generatedvisualizations. In some embodiments, the supplemental information may bepresented as overlay visualizations and/or the location of thesupplemental visualizations may be dynamically determined based on thelocations of other elements, such as other visualizations or elements,in the graphical user interface. As another example, the system candynamically generate cumulative visualizations and/or enable the sharingof annotations, which results in an improved graphical user interfaceand/or an improvement in a computer's ability to display information.

The improved graphical user interface can reduce memory storagerequirements and/or enable faster computer processing. For example, insome embodiments, the visualizations and/or the underlying data for thevisualizations may be dynamically generated instead of beingpre-calculated. Thus, instead of storing the data in non-transitorystorage, the underlying data may be generated on request and/or inmemory, thus reducing non-transitory storage requirements. However, inother embodiments, the underlying data may be pre-calculated. Further,the graphical user interface system may be improvement over existinggraphical user interfaces, such as spreadsheets, which may require thestorage of data locally on client computers instead server-side databasestorage in some embodiments. Thus, the graphical user interface systemmay result in reduced storage requirements over existing systems sincethe existing systems may require a local copy of the data for eachclient device as opposed to some embodiments that may be implementedusing a client-server architecture. Likewise, a client-serverarchitecture in some embodiments may enable faster computer processingand/or query times since some computer processing may be done serverside that may employ significant computer processing resources over theclient computer's resources. Further, the graphical user interfacesystem enables a user to quickly construct and execute queries in agraphical manner as opposed to existing systems.

In some embodiments, the attribute and/or item data may be extractedfrom large data sources. For example, the large data sources may includeitem data sets in a row and columnar data format. The data from thelarge data sources may be processed to extract attributes and/or otherdata to be used in the user interfaces. Example data that may beprocessed includes Nielsen Product Reference Data. More informationregarding attributes, the extraction of attributes, and/or the use ofthe attribute and/or item data may be found in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/077,650 entitled “Systems and Methods for Attribute Analysisof One or More Databases” filed Mar. 22, 2016 (“the '650 application”),which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. For example,such details may be found in at least paragraphs [0041]-[0140], amongothers, of the '650 application.

Example Graphical User Interface System

FIG. 1 illustrates a graphical user interface system 100 (“GUI system100”), according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In theembodiment of FIG. 1, the database environment 110 includes a network160, a GUI system 100, a user computing device 102, and data storagedevices, such as a metrics data storage 132, an item data storage 134,an entity data storage 135, and/or other data storage devices 136.Various communications between these devices are illustrated. Forexample, the user computing device 102 may send user input, such as userinterface selections, to the GUI system 100.

The example GUI system 100 includes a data importer 104, a userinterface server 106, a query generator 108, and query data storage 112.The data importer 104 may import data from the item data storage 134such as attributes and/or other item data. The data importer 104 mayalso import metrics and/or statistical measures from the metrics datastorage 132, which may contain metrics and/or statistical measures suchas sales data, inventory data, days of supply, movement data, and/orforecast data associated with the items. The data importer 104 may alsoimport entity data from the entity data storage 135. The data importer104 may store the data 114 in the query data storage 112. For example,the data 114 may be inserted into one or more data sources and/or tablessuch as an item data source, a statistical data source, and/or an entitydata source. In some embodiments, a user may perform operations via theuser interface server 106 such as selecting one or more user interfaceoptions and/or predefined investigations, as described herein. Forexample, the user interface server 106 and/or the query generator 108may receive user input to generate a query for the query data storage112.

Example User Interface and Querying Processes

FIG. 2 are flowcharts of example methods of generating user interfacesand/or querying data, according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

Although the method 200 is described in conjunction with the systems ofFIG. 1, any system configured to perform the method, in any order, iswithin the scope of this disclosure. The method 200 may be performed bythe various components of the GUI system 100 of FIG. 1 as discussedherein, including the data importer 104, the user interface server 106,and/or the query generator 108. Depending on the embodiment, the method200 may include fewer or additional blocks and/or the blocks may beperformed in an order different than is illustrated. Blocks of themethod 200 may be similar to blocks of any other method describedherein. For example, the techniques and/or algorithms of a block of themethod 200 may describe the techniques and/or algorithms that can beused at a block of any other method described herein. Additionally oralternatively, the method 200 may be combined with any other methoddescribed herein.

Beginning at block 202, the data importer 104 imports data into thequery data storage. Example data includes item data, entity data, metricand/or statistical data, which may originate from multiple disparatesources. The example data may be accessed and/or imported in a databaseformat. The data importer 104 may aggregate data for importing data intothe query data storage 112. Example aggregation of data includesaggregating the statistical data and/or metrics data by week or anyother time period; the statistical data and/or metrics data may also beaggregated by entity, such as aggregating data at various levels: anentity level such as a distributor or retailer level, a sub-entity levelsuch as a distributor distribution center or a retailer division, and/ora sub-sub-entity level such as a particular store. The query datastorage may also include indices associated with the various datasources. Accordingly, the data importer 104 inserts data into the datasources, which in turn may update one or more indices.

In some embodiments, the data importer 104 pre-processes and/or furtheraggregates the data. For example, data associated with particularqueries and/or visualizations may be precomputed by the data importer104 for improvements in efficiency. For example, the data importer 104may import data into a seasons level table, a brand level table, and apack type table. Accordingly, where applicable, the query generator 108may select one of the precomputed tables for the associated query ifavailable, and the query generator 108 may use default tables if thereis not a precomputed table available for the particular query.

At block 204, the user interface server 106 generates a user interface.As described herein, the generated user interfaces may enable user toquery item data, entity data, statistical related data, and/or otheritem-related data. Example statistical related information includesstatistical and/or metric data of one or more items and/or items such asdays of supply, forecast movement in dollars, forecast movement ineaches, forecast movement in salable finished goods, inbound movement indollars, inbound movement in eaches, inbound movement in salablefinished goods, inventory dollars, inventory in eaches, inventory insalable finished good, and/or outbound movement in dollars, outboundmovement in eaches, and/or outbound movement in salable finished goods.The example statistical related information may be stored as time seriesdata by a unit of time such as by day, week, month, quarter, etc.Example statistical measures of the statistical related informationincludes a count of inventory, sales in dollars and/or other currency,and/or an average mean, median, or mode of item and/or entity data. Thegenerated user interfaces are described in further detail with referenceto FIGS. 5-8. In particular, the generated user interface may initiallyand/or at some point during presentation may omit or not include a datavisualization. Alternatively, the generated user interface, which mayinclude one or more panels, may be loaded from storage and/or based onpre-existing parameters, as described herein. The user interface server106 may pre-load data from the query data storage 112 to expedite userinterface searching. For example, user interface server 106 loads item,attribute, and/or entity data to enable near-instantaneous searching ofthose options within the user interface.

At block 206, the user interface server 106 receives the user input viathe user interface. For example, a user may select one or more optionswithin the user interface. Example options that may be selected includeitem options, entity options, statistical measure options, and/ormiscellaneous options such as an option for filtering by year and/orgrouping by some parameter. Example item options include an attribute, abrand, pack type, or UPC identifier, among others. Example entityoptions include specific entities that consist of establishmentlocations, individual establishment locations, upstream producers ofitems, and/or downstream distributors of those items, which maycorrespond to various stages of production to distribution for an itemand/or an item's lifecycle. By way of a specific example of userselected options, a user may specify input options for: the “Back toSchool” seasonal attribute, a time period such as a particular year ofinterest, an entity distributor, and/or a statistical measure such assalable finished goods, which may be an indicator of inventory, asdescribed herein. Example time periods for filtering including a periodof days, weeks, months, years, and/or some combination thereof. Whilethese options may be described in a single iteration of block 206, itwill be appreciated that the collection of these options may bedetermined after various loops of the blocks of the example method 200,as described herein. For example, the user interface server 106 may:receive first user input, update the user interface a first time,receive second user input, update the user interface a second time,execute one or more queries based on the first and second user input,and then present the results of the queries in the user interface.Various methods for receiving user input and/or various types of userinput are described in further detail with reference to FIGS. 5-8.

At block 208, the query generator 108 constructs a query based on theuser input. The query generator may identify one or more data sourcesfor one or more queries based on the user input. For example, the querygenerator 108 identifies one or more item data sources based on aselected item option; one or more entity data sources based on aselected the option; and/or one or more statistical data sources basedon a selected statistical measure option. The query generator 108 mayalso determine one or more query fields based on the selected options.For example, the query generator 108 identifies a “season” field from anitem table for querying based on the user selection of a season option.In some embodiments, the query generator 108 may access a data structureand/or mapping to identify one or more data sources and/or fields fromthe particular user input. Continuing with the specific example userinput options corresponding to the “Back to School” seasonal attribute,a particular year of interest, an entity distributor, and/or astatistical measure such as salable finished goods, the query generator108 may generate a query corresponding to joining an item data source,an entity data source, and an inventory data source to determine salablefinished goods corresponding to “Back to School” items distributed byestablishments of the particular entity distributor for the specifiedyear. The example query may correspond to: “SELECT <fields> FROMitem_table JOIN inventory_table oninventory_table.item_id=item_table.item_id JOIN entity_table oninventory_table.location_id=entity_table.location_id WHEREitem_table.season_id=<input_season> ANDentity_table.entity_id=<input_entity> ANDinventory_table.date>=<input_date>”. In the example query, theinventory_table is an example statistical data source. The example“SELECT . . . ” query is illustrative and may not correspond to anyspecific programming language or be executable in the format shown.Additionally or alternatively, while the example “SELECT . . . ” queryis written as a single query, the query generator 108 may generatemultiple queries corresponding to the example query. As describedherein, the user input options may be translated and/or transformed intospecific data sources and/or query parameters. Accordingly, the querygenerator 108 can dynamically generate queries based on the user inputoptions. While the generation of the query may be described in a singleiteration of block 210, similar to the receipt of user input options inmultiple sub-iterations of the example method 200, it will beappreciated that completion of one or more queries may occur aftervarious loops of the blocks of the example method 200, as describedherein. For example, the query may be constructed after multiple loopsof the example method 200 until the query is ready to be executed. Asanother example of multiple loops through the example method 200, thequery generator 108 may: execute a first set of queries such asretrieving results corresponding to inventory for multiple entities;present first results of the first set of queries; receive second userinput such as an additional filter option; execute a second set ofqueries corresponding to the second user input; present second resultsof the second set of queries, where the second results may be similar tothe first results except the second results may reflect the additionalfilter option, for example; receive third user input, and so forth.

In generating the query, the query generator 108 may ignore some of theuser selected options. For example, if a user selects “Retail Metrics”of 1) “sales (ea)”, 2) days of supply, and 3) sales (dollars), then thedata sets corresponding to the three statistical measures may eachrepresent a potential axis of a visualization. Accordingly, the querygenerator 108 may generate a query to retrieve results corresponding tothe three statistical measures such as 1) sales (eaches), 2) days ofsupply, and 3) sales (dollars). Below at block 214, the user interfaceserver 106 and/or the query generator 108 may chart the threestatistical measures and select two axes for presentations. In someembodiments, two statistical measures may be chosen arbitrarily,pseudo-randomly, by a predetermined method (such as selecting morecommonly selected statistical measures or prioritized statisticalmeasures and/or combinations of statistical measures), or by some othermethod. In other embodiments, the query generator 108 may generate aquery to retrieve results corresponding to two statistical measures. Inanother example, the query generator 108 ignores a selected first partydistribution center when the user selects a statistical measure such as“sales (eaches).” As used herein, “eaches” may refer to an item group asa unit of measure that it is stocked and/or sold at a retailestablishment, for example. “Ea” and “eaches” may be usedinterchangeably in the present disclosure. Salable finished goods mayrefer to the unit of measure in which the item is stocked at adistribution center (cases, pallets, etc.), for example. A salablefinished good may be made up of one or more eaches. Accordingly, thequery generator 108 may determine the axes for a particularvisualization based on the user input options. Additionally oralternatively, the query generator 108 may retrieve resultscorresponding to multiple user options, even though the results may beincompatible for a particular visualization. In the example ofretrieving results corresponding to multiple user options, the querygenerator 108 may then ignore some of the retrieved results if they areincompatible. In some embodiments, the user interface providesnotifications to users, such as a tooltip, of incompatible userinterface options and/or of sets of options that fail to return aresult. Additionally or alternatively, the user interface may prevent auser from selecting incompatible filters.

At block 210, the query generator 108 determines whether to execute theone or more queries. In some embodiments, the query generator 108determines to execute one or more queries if the queries are ready. Forexample, a query may not be ready to execute until a particular type ofoption has been selected such as a statistical measure option. If theone or more queries are ready to be executed, the query generatorproceeds to block 212. Otherwise, the one or more queries are not readyand the example method 200 returns to block 204.

At block 212, the query generator 108 retrieves results based on the oneor more queries. For example, the query generator 108 executes the oneor more queries to retrieve the results from the query data storage 112.In some embodiments, the generated one or more queries use one or moredatabase indices for efficient result retrieval. Continuing with thesalable finished goods example, the query generator 108 executes thequery to retrieve salable finished goods results. The example salablefinished goods results include time series data representing inventoryof goods at one or more establishments over time. Example units of timefor the time series data and/or discrete data points of the time seriesdata may correspond to daily, weekly, quarterly, annually, and or someother unit.

The query generator 108 may retrieve results from a cache if the querydata is being requested for a second time. In some embodiments, thequery generator 108 may cache results the first time they are retrievedand/or the first time they are retrieved for a user session.Accordingly, if the same query and/or data is requested a second time,the query generator 108 may retrieve the corresponding results thesecond time from a cache, which may be faster than executing the queryto retrieve results from data storage.

At block 214, the user interface server 106 and/or the query generator108 presents and/or stores the results. For example, the user interfaceserver 106 generates a graph visualization based on the determinedresults at block 212. Additional information regarding generating timeseries visualizations, such as particular techniques, processes, and/oralgorithms thereof is found in at least paragraphs [0068]-[0083], amongothers, of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/201,213 entitled“Graphical User Interface for a Database System” filed Jul. 1, 2016.Example presentations of results are described in further detail withreference to FIGS. 5-8. Additionally or alternatively, the querygenerator 108 may store some and/or all of the determined results in thequery data storage 112.

In some embodiments, the path and/or an audit trail of an investigationmay be stored. A user may duplicate one or more panels that may reflectthe pattern investigation. Additionally or alternatively, the userinterface server 106 and/or the graphical user interface system 100 mayautomatically store each revision of a panel and/or investigation. Thesaved revision of a panel and/or investigations may be stored in thequery data storage 112. Each revision of the panel and/or investigationmay include the user input selections and other data necessary toconstruct the panel, the investigation, and/or associated query. In someembodiments, panel data and/or investigation data may be stored in thequery data storage 112 as a binary large object (BLOB). For example,each revision of a panel may be stored in the query data storage 112.Accordingly, the GUI system 100 may retrieve revisions of panels and/orinvestigations. Thus, the user interface server 106 may allow user tobacktrack or undo user interface options using a history of user input,a breadcrumb trail of user input, and/or the BLOB revisions. In someembodiments, the GUI system 100 may automatically determine an audittrail of panels and/or user input selections that returned results.

In some embodiments, the GUI system 100 is configured to generatealerts. The GUI system 100 may execute stored queries based on somefrequency and generate alerts if a query returns a result and/or theresult is above or below a particular threshold. For example, a querymay determine whether inventory is below a certain threshold number. Inthe example, the GUI system 100 may generate and send a correspondingalert to a user. In some embodiments, the GUI system 100 may send analert via an electronic communication. The electronic communication mayinclude a link to the user interface, which may present resultsassociated with the alert. Additionally or alternatively, alerts may beviewed within the user interface of the GUI system 100.

The other example flowchart of FIG. 2 is an example method 250 ofexecuting one or more queries to determine groupings of results,according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Although themethod 250 is described in conjunction with the systems of FIG. 1, anysystem configured to perform the method, in any order, is within thescope of this disclosure. The method 250 may be performed by the variouscomponents of the GUI system 100 of FIG. 1 as discussed herein,including the user interface server 106 and/or the query generator 108.Depending on the embodiment, the method 250 may include fewer oradditional blocks and/or the blocks may be performed in an orderdifferent than is illustrated. Blocks of the method 250 may be similarto blocks of any other method described herein. Additionally oralternatively, the method 250 may be combined with any other methoddescribed herein. Aspects of the example method 250 may be described infurther detail herein with reference to FIG. 8.

Beginning at block 252, the query generator 108 accesses one or moreoptions. For example, the one or more options may correspond to userinput options, as described in further detail with reference to themethod 200, and in particular with reference to block 206. By way of aspecific example of user selected options, the specific user optionsinclude: the “Red White & Blue” seasonal attribute, a particular year ofinterest, a specific entity, a statistical measure such as salablefinished goods, and a compare-by-entity-division option.

At block 254, the query generator 108 determines whether groupings havebeen explicitly specified. For example, in the case of the specificexample of the “Red White & Blue” set of options, the query generator108 determines that explicit groupings are unspecified and proceeds toblock 206. In an alternative case, the options correspond to groupingsthat may be selected by user. For example, the options correspond todifferent divisions of a particular entity: “GroceryPlus_South,”“GroceryPlus_NE,” “GroceryPlus_West,” etc. Accordingly, if the options“GroceryPlus_South” and “GroceryPlus_NE” have been selected along with acorresponding compare-by-entity-division option, the query generator 108determines that explicit groupings have been specified and proceeds toblock 256.

At block 256, the query generator 108 constructs and/or executes acomprehensive query. For example, since explicit groupings areunspecified, the query generator 108 initially generates and/or executesa query to determine one or more groupings. Continuing with the specific“Red White & Blue” set of options, the query generator 108 constructsone or more queries to determine one or more groupings. Continuing withthe example, the query may determine items associated with the “RedWhite & Blue” seasonal attribute and/or salable finished goods, and timeseries data regarding inventory of those items at specific entitydivisions for the particular year. In the example, where the specifiedentity is GroceryPlus, the query generator 108 executes and retrievesthe queries time series data results for each of “GroceryPlus_South,”“GroceryPlus_NE,” “GroceryPlus_West,” “GroceryPlus_SE,” etc. Theconstruction and/or execution of the comprehensive one or more queriesmay be similar to the query construction described with reference toblocks 208, 210, and/or 212 of the method 200. In some embodiments, thecomprehensive query may include a “GROUP BY” SQL function to retrievethe data in groups.

At block 258, the query generator 108 dynamically determines apredetermined number of groupings based on the retrieved results fromblock 206. For example, the blocks 256 and/or 258 may be advantageous tonot overwhelm the user with visualization data and/or to increase usercomprehensibility. In one example, the predetermined number of groupingsmay be five or six groupings; however, without such a limitation,presentation of data associated with greater than six groupings (such asfifty or one hundred groupings that correspond to fifty or one hundreddifferent time series graph lines) may decrease user understandabilityand/or be detrimental to the user experience. Accordingly, examplemethods for determining a predetermined number of groupings includeselecting the highest or lowest groupings by some statistical measure,or some other method of ranking the groupings. The query generator 108may determine a statistical measure for each grouping, such as averagemean, median, or mode; then the statistical measures for each groupingmay be ranked from highest-to-lowest, lowest-to-highest, or some otherranking. In the context of data that includes multiple discrete datapoints for each grouping, such as time series data, taking a statisticalmeasure may be useful to rank the groupings. For example, if thediscrete data points of a first grouping correspond to (1 and 100), andthe data points of a second grouping correspond to (10 and 2), then bytaking the average mean of the groupings, which may correspond to 50.5and 6 of the first and second groupings, respectively, the firstgrouping may receive a higher ranking than the second grouping. In someembodiments, a user input option may specify the ranking order. Continuewith a specific example for inventory time series data, the average meanof inventory at each entity division or grouping (“GroceryPlus_South,”“GroceryPlus_NE,” etc.) may be determined for the specified time period,and the average mean (inventory over the course of a year, for example)for each of the groupings are ranked. Accordingly, the query generator108 may select “N” (a predefined number of) groupings based on theranking. In some embodiments, the query generator 108 may treat theremaining groupings as a discrete grouping such as an “all other” and/ormiscellaneous grouping. For example, if the query generator 108 selectsthe top five groupings, then the query generator 108 may categorizeand/or treat the remaining groupings as a sixth grouping, includingaggregating and/or combining data for the remaining groupings, asdescribed herein.

At block 260, the query generator 108 constructs and/or executes a queryfor the determined groupings. The construction and/or execution of aquery for the determined groupings may be similar to the queryconstruction and/or execution described with reference to blocks 208,210, and/or 212 of FIG. 2. In the case where explicit groupings were notspecified as determined at block 254 and continuing with the specific“Red White & Blue” set of options, the query generator 108 constructsone or more queries to retrieve data for each of the determinedgroupings (for example, the groups with the highest average means:“GroceryPlus_South,” “GroceryPlus_NE,” etc.) such as inventoryassociated with the specified items and associated with the determinedgroupings. Moreover, the one or more queries may retrieve data for the“all other” and/or miscellaneous grouping that may correspond to theremaining groupings and the data may be aggregated as one grouping.Accordingly, the one or more queries may correspond to “second” queriesand/or subqueries after blocks 256 and 258 that dynamically determined apredetermined number of groupings with the “first” query and/orsubquery. In the alternative case where explicit groupings werespecified at block 254, the one or more queries at block 260 maycorrespond to a “first” query of the previously specified groupings. Forexample, where the options “GroceryPlus_West” and “GroceryPlus_East”were selected, one or more queries would be executed to retrieve dataassociated with the “GroceryPlus_West” and “GroceryPlus_East” entitydivisions. Example data that may be retrieved by the example method 250,and in particular block 260, are described in further detail withreference to FIG. 8. In some embodiments, the query for the determinedgroupings may include a “GROUP BY” SQL function to retrieve the data ingroups.

In some embodiments, the GUI system 100 may enable a user to furtherinvestigate the “all other” and/or miscellaneous grouping. For example,a user may select a visualization corresponding to the miscellaneousgrouping, and the user interface server 100 may cause presentation ofresults exclusively associated with the miscellaneous grouping. In someembodiments, presentation of the miscellaneous results may correspond tosome or all of the example method 250. For example, if the miscellaneousgrouping contains sub-groupings above a threshold, then the querygenerator 108 may conduct a comprehensive query on each of thesub-groupings to determine a predetermined number of groupings to bepresented to the user, which may be similar to blocks 256 and/or 258. Inthis manner, a user may drill down into the miscellaneous groupings,which may cause some or all of the blocks of example methods 200 and/or250 to execute recursively.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method of generating user interfacesfor supplemental data, according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

Although the method 300 is described in conjunction with the systems ofFIG. 1, any system configured to perform the method, in any order, iswithin the scope of this disclosure. The method 300 may be performed bythe various components of the GUI system 100 of FIG. 1 as discussedherein, including the data importer 104, the user interface server 106,and/or the query generator 108. Depending on the embodiment, the method300 may include fewer or additional blocks and/or the blocks may beperformed in an order different than is illustrated. Blocks of themethod 300 may be similar to blocks of any other method describedherein. Additionally or alternatively, the method 300 may be combinedwith any other method described herein. Aspects of the example method300 may be described in further detail herein with reference to FIGS. 5and/or 6.

Beginning at block 302, the user interface server 106 receives an inputdate and/or time. For example, the user interface includes a date and/ortime selector that enables the user to specify an input date and/ortime, which is described in further detail with respect to FIG. 5. Anexample date includes a user selected date of Nov. 1, 2013. In someembodiments, the input date and/or time includes a date, time range,and/or time period. Accordingly, an example date and/or time periodincludes Nov. 1, 2013 to Dec. 25, 2014. Additionally or alternatively,the GUI system 100 may use a default input date and/or time. An exampledefault input date and/or time includes a predetermined date and/ortime, such as the first date for which there is supplemental data. Asdescribed herein, the GUI system 100 uses the input date and/or time todetermine the supplemental data for presentation. Additionally oralternatively, if an input date and/or time is not specified then theGUI system 100 may query all or some of the supplemental data.

At block 304, the user interface server 106 and/or the query generator108 retrieves one or more supplemental data items. For example, withoutany input parameters, the GUI system 100 retrieves all or some defaultsupplemental data. Using the example of FIG. 5, the GUI system 100 mayretrieve supplemental data associated with a particular product and/oritem, such as Acme's Cookies. As described herein, the query generator108 generates a query with a supplemental item related query parameter,such as a particular product and/or item identifier. The example GUIsystem 100 retrieves the supplemental data items from the query datastorage 112. Additional supplemental item related query parametersinclude any type of identifier, such as an entity identifier.Accordingly, the query generator 108 can retrieve supplemental dataitems that are associated with a particular entity identifier, forexample. As described herein, example supplemental data includespromotional data that correspond to promotional programs for productsand/or items such as seasonal programs, sales programs, or any otherkind of program.

At block 306, the user interface server 106 and/or the query generator108 determines one or more subsets of the supplemental data items. Inthe example with a time period, the user interface server 106 and/or thequery generator 108 selects a subset of the supplemental data items fromblock 304 that correspond to the specified time period. For example,those promotional programs that fall within Nov. 1, 2013 to Dec. 25,2014. In some embodiments, the blocks 304 and 306 may be combined. Forexample, the query generator 108 may generate and execute a combinedquery to select those data items that satisfy the input parameters. Theexample identified supplemental data items may be associated with timeperiods and/or dates. For example, where the supplemental data itemsinclude a first subset and a second subset, each of the first and secondsubsets may correspond to respective time periods. In the promotionalprograms example, a first subset of supplemental data items correspondto a promotional program with a specific time period, such as a startand end date.

At block 308, the GUI system 100 determines one or more efficacyindicators for the supplemental data, such as the subset of thesupplemental data items. Example efficacy indicators include a liftmetric that may correspond to sales that may be attributed to aparticular promotional program. In some embodiments, the lift metric iscalculated using historical data. For example, the lift for a particularprogram may correspond to a difference value in sales (or some othermetric) between a time period that did not have a promotional programrunning and another time period that had the promotional programrunning. Another example efficacy indicator includes an execution metricthat may correspond to a ratio of a number of total entities to a numberof entities implementing the promotion, such as the number of totalentities divided by the number of entities implementing the promotion.In some embodiments, the example efficacy indicator may be a combinationof factors, such as using the execution metric to weight the executionmetric.

In some embodiments, the efficacy indicator is calculated dynamically.For example, the user interface server 106 may dynamically calculate theefficacy indicator in response to a request. Additionally oralternatively, the GUI system 100 pre-calculates the efficacy indicatorsfor the supplemental data. For example, the data importer 104 generatesthe efficacy indicators and stores them in the query data storage 112.

As described herein, in some embodiments, the GUI system 100 calculatesmultiple efficacy indicators for a subset of the supplemental dataitems. Continuing with the multiple efficacy indicators example, aparticular promotional program may include granular data, such as datathat corresponds to granular time units. Example granular time units forsupplemental data includes data on a week-by-week or month-by-monthbasis, for example. Accordingly, the GUI system 100 can calculatemultiple efficacy indicators for a single promotional program based onthe granular data.

An example method for determining an efficacy indicator, such as a liftmetric, uses historical data. For example, the GUI system 100, such asthe data importer 104 and/or the user interface server 106, determinesthe products and/or items associated with the identified promotionalprogram. The example GUI system 100 determines a metric for the productsand/or items associated with the promotional program, such as sales ofthe products and or items. With the example metric identified, the GUIsystem 100 calculates a first value for the example metric and theproducts and/or items for a first time period that is not associatedwith the promotional program, such as 20 million units sold in the year2013; and calculates a second value for the example metric and theproducts and/or items for a second time period corresponding to thepromotional program, such as 24 million units sold in the year 2013.Thus, the GUI system 100 calculates an example lift metric bydetermining the difference between the first and second value, such as 4million units. In some embodiments, the example comparison time periodsinclude the time period preceding the time period to be analyzed (e.g.,for determining a December efficacy indicator, the historical data fromNovember may be used) and/or the time period corresponding to the sametime of year (e.g., for determining a December efficacy indicator, thehistorical data may be used from prior December(s)). Thus, the GUIsystem 100 can calculate the efficacy indicator from trends. Asdescribed herein, the calculated lift may be used by the GUI system 100to dynamically determine the presentation of the supplemental data.

Another example efficacy indicator includes a combination metric. Forexample, the GUI system 100, such as the data importer 104 and/or theuser interface server 106, determines the execution metric. An exampleexecution metric includes the number of total entities divided by thenumber of entities implementing the promotion, such as 1000 totalentities divided by 500 entities implementing the promotion, whichresults in a weight of 2 for the execution metric. Using the previousexample of the lift metric, the GUI system 100 may adjust the liftmetric by the execution metric, such as by multiplying the lift metricby the execution metric. Continuing with the example, the initial liftmetric (4 million) is multiplied by the execution metric (2), whichresults in a combined efficacy indicator of 8 million.

At block 310, the GUI system 100 determines a ranking for the efficacyindicators. In an example with two subsets of supplemental data items,such as a first promotional program and a second promotional program,and with corresponding first and second efficacy indicators, the GUIsystem 100 generates a ranking of the subsets by comparing the efficacyindicators. Continuing with the example, a first efficacy indicator witha score of 8 would be ranked higher than a second efficacy indicatorwith a score of 4.

At block 312, the GUI system 100 generates one or more visualrepresentations corresponding to the supplemental data. In someembodiments, the GUI system 100 generates and/or causes presentation ofthe visual representations according to the efficacy indicators and/orthe ranking. Example visual representations of the supplemental data aredescribed herein in further detail with respect to FIGS. 5 and/or 6.Example visual representations include bar graphs that reflect theefficacy indicators and/or the ranking, such as by illustrating the bargraphs with different colors or shading and/or by presenting the bargraphs at different heights based on the efficacy indicators and/or theranking. In some embodiments, the visual representations are presentedand/or aligned with respect to a timeline that indicates time periodsassociated with the visual representations. Continuing with thepromotional programs example, a visual representation corresponding tothe promotional program can be dynamically presented as a bar graph on atimeline that indicates the start and end dates for the promotionalprogram.

In some embodiments, the GUI system 100 dynamically calculates a heightfor a visual representation. For example, the GUI system 100 may presentthe visual representations at different heights to visually indicate theefficacy indicators. The example GUI system 100 retrieves a defaultheight for the visual representations. Continuing with the example, theGUI system 100 calculates a first height for the visual representation,such as by determining the height from a relationship that generallycorresponds to the default height multiplied by the efficacy indicatorfor the corresponding supplemental data. The GUI system 100 can presentthe one or more visual representations at different heights, whichimproves the computer and/or user interface to visually convey enhancedinformation regarding the supplemental data.

In embodiments with granular data for supplemental data items and/ormultiple efficacy indicators for a subset of the supplemental dataitems, the GUI system 100 may generate multiple heights for a singlevisual representation based on the multiple efficacy indicators. Anexample of a multi-height visual representation, such as a step chart,is the example visual representation 640, which is described in furtherdetail with reference to FIG. 6.

Additionally or alternatively, the GUI system 100 dynamically adjuststhe height of the visual representations according to other factors. Forexample, the GUI system 100 can use a ceiling height to cap visualrepresentations to a maximum height. Another example method forcalculating the heights of the visual representations includesgenerating the heights based on the ranking, such as by incrementallyadjusting the heights of the visual representations. For example, wherethere are first, second, and third visual representations with acorresponding first, second, and third ranking, respectively, the GUIsystem 100 may incrementally assign heights to the visualrepresentations according to the rankings, such as assigning heights inincrements of 30 pixels, for example. Thus, the first, second, and thirdvisual representations may have corresponding heights of 90 pixels, 60pixels, and 30 pixels, for example.

Additionally or alternatively, the GUI system 100 dynamically assignscolors to the visual representations based on the ranking and/orefficacy indicators. For example, the GUI system 100 may havepredetermined colors and/or shadings for particular ranges of efficacyindicators and/or for particular rankings. Continuing with the example,a higher ranked promotional program is assigned a first color and alower ranked promotional program is assigned a different second color.As another example, the GUI system 100 dynamically calculates a color,shading, and/or hue from the efficacy indicator. For example, the GUIsystem 100 can dynamically determine a color for the visualrepresentation based on a relationship that generally corresponds tomultiplying the efficacy indicator by a base color value that results inan output color value. For example, the greater the efficacy indicatorthe darker a hue or shading for the visual representation. In someembodiments, the visual representations may be the same height.

In some embodiments, the GUI system 100 arranges the visualrepresentations according to the ranking. For example, a higher rankedsupplemental data item and/or promotional program can be brought furtherto the foreground. In other embodiments, a higher ranked supplementaldata item and/or promotional program can be brought further to thebackground. Thus, where multiple visual representations are presented,the representations can be shown in a layered manner that improves theuser's ability to comprehend the supplemental data. The GUI system 100can stacks the visual representations if they are the same or differentheights.

FIG. 4 are flowcharts of example methods of generating user interfacesfor cumulative data and for sharing annotations, according to someembodiments of the present disclosure.

Although the method 400 is described in conjunction with the systems ofFIG. 1, any system configured to perform the method, in any order, iswithin the scope of this disclosure. The method 400 may be performed bythe various components of the GUI system 100 of FIG. 1 as discussedherein, including the data importer 104, the user interface server 106,and/or the query generator 108. Depending on the embodiment, the method400 may include fewer or additional blocks and/or the blocks may beperformed in an order different than is illustrated. Blocks of themethod 400 may be similar to blocks of any other method describedherein. Additionally or alternatively, the method 400 may be combinedwith any other method described herein, such as any method of FIG. 2(the methods 200 and/or 250), the method 300 of FIG. 3, and/or themethod 450 of FIG. 4. Aspects of the example method 400 may be describedin further detail herein with reference to FIGS. 7A-7B.

At block 402, the GUI system 100 executes one or more queries toretrieve one or more results. For example, the GUI system 100 executesthe first query to retrieve results from the query data storage 112.Additional details regarding constructing and/or executing a query aredescribed in further detail with respect to FIG. 2. In some embodiments,the first results include data value pairs. For example, the graph 532of FIG. 5 visually represents a series of data value pairs and/orcoordinates corresponding to a point on a first axis (such as an x,horizontal, and/or time axis) and a point on a second axis (such as a y,vertical, unit, sales, and/or metric axis).

At block 404, the GUI system 100 presents the results in the graphicaluser interface. The graph 532 of FIG. 5 is an example presentation ofthe example results that include data value pairs. Additional detailsregarding presenting results are described in further detail withrespect to FIG. 2. In some embodiments, the GUI system 100 presentsmultiple visualizations and/or graphs. Example multiple graphs aredescribed in further detail with respect to method 250 of FIG. 2 andFIG. 8. For example, the GUI system 100 can dynamically present multiplegraphs via the compare by option, as described herein.

At block 406, the GUI system 100 received user input that indicates auser selection of a cumulative option. Additional details regardingconstructing and/or executing a query are described in further detailwith respect to FIGS. 7A-7B. For example, a user can select thecumulative option 708 of FIG. 7A. In some embodiments, the user inputfurther comprises a start date and/or time and/or a time periodassociated with the cumulative option. Thus, cumulative data may only becalculated and/or presented with respect to the specified date and/ortime input.

At block 408, the GUI system 100 determines cumulative data from the oneor more results. For example, the GUI system 100 generates cumulativedata value pairs that correspond to accumulated data value pairs of theone or more results. In some embodiments, the data value pairs of theone or more results are filtered and/or a subset of the data value pairsare determined based on the user input, such as the time periodindicated by the user selected cumulative option. An example of datavalue pairs of the one or more results include (time 1, $100), (time 2,$200), and (time 3, $500). The GUI system 100 determines a currentcumulative data value starting with the base condition by adding astarting value to the first data value of the one or more results. Inthe example, a first current cumulative value would be $100 where thebase condition starts with an initial value of zero because $100 pluszero is $100.

At block 410, the GUI system 100 determines if there are additionalresults and/or data values of the one or more results to process. Forexample, if there are unprocessed data value pairs from the one or moreresults than the GUI system 100 returns to block 408 until there are nomore data value pairs to process. Continuing with the example, the GUIsystem 100 calculates second and third cumulative data value pairs fromthe previous cumulative data value pairs that may result in thecumulative data value pairs of (cumulative time 1, $100), (cumulativetime 2, $300), and (cumulative time 3, $800). The GUI system 100proceeds to block 412 when there are no more additional results and/ordata values to process.

As described herein, the GUI system 100 can generate cumulative datafrom forecast data in a similar manner as described with respect to themethod 400. In the forecast data example, the GUI system 100 may use abase condition that is greater than zero for generating the cumulativedata. For example, since forecast data may have a starting point fromexisting historical data, the historical cumulative data can begenerated for the historical data and the GUI system 100 can use the enddata value from the historical cumulative data as the starting point forthe forecast of data. In a specific example, where the end data valuefrom the historical cumulative data is $800, the GUI system 100 canbegin calculating the forecast data by adding the initial forecast datavalue to the end data value from the historical cumulative data, whichis $800 in the example. In the presented user interface, there can be avisual distinction between the cumulative historic data and theforecasted data. In a visualization, the forecasted data can bepresented as a dotted line and/or color-coded to emphasize itsrelatively uncertain nature, while sales/inventory/other concretemetrics may be presented in solid lines and/or other colors to emphasizethat they are known quantities. Additional details regarding generatingand presenting cumulative data and forecast data are described infurther detail with respect to FIG. 7B.

In some embodiments, the GUI system 100 can dynamically generate inresponse to user input. In other embodiments, the GUI system 100 canpre-calculate and/or cache the cumulative data. Thus, in response to auser selection to view cumulative data, the GUI system 100 can retrievetheir previously generated cumulative data from the query data storage112.

At block 412, the GUI system 100 presents and/or stores the cumulativedata. For example, the GUI system 100 can present the cumulative datavalue pairs as a graph in a user interface. An example cumulative graphis the graph 740 of FIGS. 7A and 7B. Additional details regardingpresenting graphs and/or storing results are described in further detailwith respect to FIG. 2.

In some embodiments, as described herein, cumulative data can begenerated from multiple result sets that are presented in the same userinterface. For example, in the compare by example described herein,multiple graphs can be displayed in the same user interface (see, e.g.,FIG. 8) and the GUI system 100 can generate cumulative data for eachgraph of the multiple graphs. Thus, the GUI system 100 can presentmultiple cumulative graphs that enable user to compare cumulative data.For example, while not illustrated in FIG. 8, a cumulative graph can begenerated for each of the graphs 832A, 832B, and 832C of FIG. 8.

The other example flowchart of FIG. 4 is an example method 450 forsharing annotations, according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Although the method 450 is described in conjunction with thesystems of FIG. 1, any system configured to perform the method, in anyorder, is within the scope of this disclosure. The method 450 may beperformed by the various components of the GUI system 100 of FIG. 1 asdiscussed herein, including the data importer 104, the user interfaceserver 106, and/or the query generator 108. Depending on the embodiment,the method 450 may include fewer or additional blocks and/or the blocksmay be performed in an order different than is illustrated. Blocks ofthe method 450 may be similar to blocks of any other method describedherein. Additionally or alternatively, the method 450 may be combinedwith any other method described herein. Aspects of the example method450 may be described in further detail herein with reference to FIG. 8.

At block 452, the GUI system 100 receives one or more annotations. Forexample, a user may select the new annotation option 816 to generate newannotations. Example annotations are metadata. As described herein, anexample annotation corresponds to a social media event such as a videoposted by user on a particular date that is related to a particularproduct, item, and/or brand.

At block 454, the GUI system 100 associates the annotation with one ormore objects. In some embodiments, the GUI system 100 associates theannotation with a particular date and/or time. Additionally oralternatively, the GUI system 100 receives user input indicating thatthe annotation is associated with any data and/or data object describedherein, such as a product, item, brand, supplemental data item, and/or apromotional program. The example GUI system 100 stores the annotationand the optional one or more relationships with other data objects inthe query data storage 112.

At block 456, the GUI system 100 receives user input. As describedherein, example user input includes query parameters for one or moreinvestigations, such as a query for a particular product, brand, item,season, entity, etc. Accordingly, the GUI system 100 retrieve resultsbased on the query parameters. Additional details regarding receivinguser input, executing one or more queries, and/or retrieving one or moreresults are described in further detail with respect to the methods 200and/or 250 of FIG. 2, the method 300 of FIG. 3, and/or the method 400 ofFIG. 4. The user input can further include a user selected option topresent annotations.

At block 458, the GUI system 100 determines one or more annotations thatare associated with the results. For example, an example associationbetween an annotation and a result includes a time association.Continuing with the example, if a result is presented with a data valuefor March 2014 and an annotation exists that has an event date in March2014 then the annotation may be associated with the result. Additionallyor alternatively, further associations include the annotation beingrelated to a result based on a common product, item, brand, supplementaldata item, and/or a promotional program. For example, the GUI system 100can retrieve results for a promotional program and an annotation mayexist that is associated with the promotional program. In someembodiments, another example association is between an object and theannotation. For example, a graph can be associated with the brand Acme'sCandy Bar object and the annotation can also be associated with thebrand Acme's Candy Bar object. Thus, the GUI system 100 can cause aquery of the query data storage 112 or another query server to retrieveannotations and/or metadata associated with one or more objects.

At block 460, the GUI system 100 presents the one or more annotations.Example annotations include the annotations 850A-850E that are describedin further detail with respect to FIG. 8. As described herein, thepresented example annotations can be shown in one or moreinvestigations, which can result in an improved graphical user interfacefor sharing metadata. For example, a user may gain greater insight intothe graphs and/or visualizations shown in the graphical user interfacewhen the user is dynamically presented with metadata generated by otherusers that is related to their queries but the user may not haveexplicitly been searching for that particular metadata, such asinformation regarding a social media event that may explain particularentity and/or product performance on a given date or within a particulartime period. In some embodiments, the annotations and/or metadata arelocated on a respective graph that corresponds to the object that causedthe annotation to be returned from the query data storage 112 and/oranother query server. For example, an annotation may be furtherassociated with a particular date, and may be presented at theintersection of the graph at the same particular date (as well aspresented in association with the graph for the particular object).Thus, the association of annotations and/or metadata with particularvisualizations and/or graphs can help the user easily identify whichannotations go with which visualizations and/or graphs.

Example User Interfaces

FIGS. 5-8 illustrate example user interfaces of the GUI system 100,according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In particular,FIGS. 5-8 illustrate example user interfaces of the GUI system 100 thatenable a user to investigate and/or view integrated data sets of items,attributes, categories, entities, statistics, and/or other data. Invarious embodiments, aspects of the user interfaces may be rearrangedfrom what is shown and described below, and/or particular aspects may ormay not be included. However, the embodiments described below inreference to FIGS. 5-8 provide example user interfaces of the GUI system100. The user interfaces of FIGS. 5-8, such as, user interfaces 500,600, 700, 750, and 800, respectively, may have similar user interfaceelements and/or capabilities.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the example user interfaces 500 and 600 of theGUI system 100 that enables graphical supplemental information to bedynamically presented. Functional aspects of the example user interfaces500 and 600 may correspond to any method described herein, such as anymethod of FIG. 2 (the methods 200 and/or 250), the method 300 of FIG. 3,and/or any method of FIG. 4 (the methods 400 and/or 450).

In FIG. 5, the example user interface 500 includes an item group inputarea 507, an item input area 508, a first and second entity andstatistical measure input areas 510 and 511, and a miscellaneous filterarea 520. In some embodiments, if there is a user interaction with theuser interface 500, such as an update to the current investigation, userinterface 500 presents a persist option 523 to the user to persist stateassociated with the user interface 500. For example, the currentlyselected user interface options may be persisted and/or other stateassociated with the user interface 500 may be persisted.

FIG. 5 illustrates example user interface selections of user interface500. As illustrated, in the example the user has selected the “Cookies”option 502 that corresponds to a particular product, such as Acme'sCookies. In the example, another selected option includes thestatistical measure input option of “Sales (ea)” and/or eaches 504.Continuing with the example, the supplemental information option 506 hasbeen selected. The example supplemental information option 506 includesa date and/or time selector that enables a user to select a particulardate and/or time and/or date and/or time range. In the example, Nov. 1,2013, has been selected that indicates a start date associated with thesupplemental data.

Accordingly, the user interface 500 dynamically presents the results ofone or more queries within the visualization area 530 based on theselected user interface options. The example visualization includes agraph 532, such as a time series graph, and a first visualrepresentation 534 and a second visual representation 536. Asillustrated, the user interface 500 depicts the time series graph 532indicating the query results for the particular item and/or product 502,which may correspond to Acme's Cookies, and for “sales (eaches)” (a unitof measure indicating items that are stocked and/or sold at a retailestablishment). Further, based on the user interface selections, theuser interface 500 depicts the first and second visual representations534 and 536 that correspond to supplemental promotional data that mayhave been dynamically generated by the user interface 500. Asillustrated in this example, the improved display and the user interfacesystem enables the user to assess the efficacy of one or morepromotional programs. For example, as described herein, the relativeheight of each visual representation 534 and 536 may correspond to ametric, such as a calculated lift execution metric. Thus, the one ormore graphs and/or visualizations in the user interface 500 incombination with the visual representation 534 and 536 may enable userto assess the efficacy of the one or more promotional programs.

In some embodiments, the user interface 500 presents additionalsupplemental information via the supplemental element 538. In theexample, the user interface 500 dynamically presents additionalsupplemental information related to the promotional program #2 based ona user selection of the second visual representation 536. The ellipsisof the supplemental element 538 indicates that any supplementalinformation may be presented within the element. The additionalsupplemental information may include data such as, but not limited to,when the program started or ended, locations that implement the program,locations that do not implement the program, associations withparticular items and/or products, historical data, and/or statisticallycomputed data from the historical data, such as a lift execution metric.

In some embodiments, the user interface 500 includes options to selectand/or filter the supplemental information. For example, in FIG. 5, theuser interface 500 may include options to select programs #1 and #2 formultiple programs (not illustrated). Additionally or alternatively, theuser interface 500 may dynamically determine the programs that areassociated with the selected user interface options, such as item,product, and/or entity options. For example, the programs #1 and #2 maybe specifically associated with the selected Acme's Cookies brand 502,and, therefore, the user interface 500 may dynamically presentsupplemental information associated with those programs. Further, oncedetermined and/or presented, a user may optionally select either program#1 or program #2 that automatically causes the user interface 500 toupdate accordingly.

FIG. 6 illustrates the example user interface 600 that enables thedynamic presentation of additional graphical supplemental information.The user interfaces 500 and 600 of FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively, may havesimilar user interface elements and/or capabilities. Similar to the userinterface selections and/or visualizations of FIG. 5, the user interface600 represents example user interface selections of: a particularproduct and/or item, which may correspond to Acme's Cookies, for “sales(eaches),” and the supplemental information option.

Accordingly, the user interface 600 dynamically presents the results ofone or more queries within the visualization area 630 based on theselected user interface options. The example visualization includes agraph and a visual representation 640. The visual representation 640 maybe similar to the visual representations 534 and 536 of FIG. 5. In someembodiments, the visual representation 640 differs from the visualrepresentations 534 and 536 in that the visual representation 640presents a step chart in contrast to the example constant bar charts 534and 536 of FIG. 5. Continuing with the example, the user interface 600includes supplemental information that may be calculated particular timeintervals, such as daily, weekly, or monthly supplemental data.Accordingly, the example visual representation 640 represents moregranular supplemental data than the corresponding supplemental data ofthe visual representations 534 and 536.

FIG. 7A illustrates the example user interface 700 that enables thedynamic presentation of cumulative information. The user interfaces 500and 700 of FIGS. 5 and 7A, respectively, may have similar user interfaceelements and/or capabilities. As illustrated, in the example the userhas selected the “Candy Bar” option 702 that corresponds to a particularproduct, such as Acme's Candy Bar. In the example, another optionincludes the statistical measure input option 704 of Sales (dollars).Continuing with the example, the cumulative information option 708 hasbeen selected. The example cumulative information option 708 includes atime selector, which may be similar to the time selector of thesupplemental information option 506 of FIG. 5. Accordingly, the timeselector of the cumulative information option 708 enables a user toselect a particular date or time, and/or date or time range. In theexample, Apr. 1, 2016, has been selected that indicates a start dateassociated with the underlying data for the cumulative option.

Accordingly, the user interface 700 dynamically presents the results ofone or more queries within the visualization area 730 based on theselected user interface options. The example visualization includes acumulative visualization 740, such as a time series graph. Asillustrated and described herein, the user interface 700 determinesquery input parameters corresponding to the example user input optionsof a particular item and/or product 702, which may correspond to Acme'sCandy Bar, and for a statistical measure, such as Sales (dollars), and aparticular date/time and/or date/time range. Accordingly, while notillustrated, the user interface 700 may present a first visualizationcorresponding to sales for a particular item and/or product, which maybe similar to the visualization 532 of FIG. 5. In response to the userselection of the cumulative information option 708, the user interface700 presents a cumulative visualization, such as a cumulative graph,from the previous input options. As described herein, in someembodiments, the cumulative visualization is dynamically generated froma running total of the previous result data set. For example, if thefirst, second, and third months' data corresponds to $100, $200, $500,respectively, then a cumulative visualization may correspond to arunning cumulative total of $100, $300, and $800 for the first, second,and third months respectively. Additionally or alternatively, thecumulative graph the pre-calculated and/or retrieved from memory insteadof being dynamically calculated. As illustrated in this example, theimproved display and the user interface system enables the user toconduct investigations, such as determining the velocity of a productand/or item. An example velocity of a product and/or item includes howquickly the item and/or product is selling.

FIG. 7B illustrates the example user interface 750 that enables thedynamic presentation of cumulative and forecast information. The userinterfaces 700 and 750 of FIGS. 7A and 7B, respectively, may havesimilar user interface elements and/or capabilities. As illustrated, theuser has selected the “Candy Bar” option 702 that corresponds to aparticular product, such as Acme's Candy Bar. Additional selectedoptions include the statistical measure input option 704 of Sales(dollars) and the cumulative information option 708. The examplecumulative information option 708 includes a time selector, which may besimilar to the time selector of the supplemental information option 506of FIG. 5. Accordingly, the time selector of the cumulative informationoption 708 enables a user to select a particular date or time, and/ordate or time range. In the example, Apr. 1, 2016, has been selected thatindicates a start date associated with the underlying data for thecumulative option. As illustrated, the forecast option 752 can also beselected.

In response to the selection of the cumulative information option 708,the user interface 752 presents the visualization 740 that continues atthe point 742 by depicting cumulative forecast data as the graph line754 starting from the point 742. Thus, the graph line 754 may representcumulative and forecast data. The calculation of cumulative forecastdata may be similar to the calculation for other metrics data such assales, except that the forecast data represents predicted sales or othermetrics instead of historical data. There can be a visual distinctionbetween the cumulative historic data and the forecasted data. In someembodiments, the continued visualization past the point 742 may bepresented differently from the visualization 740 before the point 742,such as being color coded differently and/or shown as a dotted line incontrast to a solid line to indicate the difference between historicaland forecasted data. The forecasted data can be presented as a dottedline and/or color-coded to emphasize its relatively uncertain nature,while sales/inventory/other concrete metrics may be presented in solidlines and/or one or more other colors to emphasize that they are knownquantities. In other embodiments, the user interfaces 700 and/or 750 maypresent forecast data only instead of historical data.

FIG. 8 illustrates the example user interface 800 that enables thedynamic presentation of annotated information. The user interfaces 500and 800 of FIGS. 5 and 8, respectively, may have similar user interfaceelements and/or capabilities. As illustrated, in the example the userhas selected the “Candy Bar” option 802 that corresponds to a particularproduct, such as Acme's Candy Bar. In the example, another selectedoption includes the statistical measure input option 704 of Sales(dollars). Continuing with the example, the compare by selector 810 andthe corresponding year option 812 has been selected. The exampleannotations option 814 has also been selected.

Accordingly, the user interface 800 dynamically presents the results ofone or more queries within the visualization area 830 based on theselected user interface options. The example visualization includes avisualization 832A, 832B, and 832C, such as multiple time series graphs.As illustrated and described herein, the user interface 800 determinesquery input parameters corresponding to the example user input optionsof a particular item and/or product 702, which may correspond to Acme'sCandy Bar, and for a statistical measure, such as Sales (dollars), andfor determined one or more years as a result of the compare by option812 being selected. Accordingly, the user interface 800 presents thetime series graphs 832A-832C, which correspond to the years 2014, 2015,and 2016, that enable a user to compare the annual sales for theparticular product and/or item.

The user interface 800 dynamically retrieves and/or presents theannotations 850A, 850B, 850C, 850D, and 850E. The example annotations850A-850E include user generated metadata that enable users to shareinformation that stored separately from an investigation. The exampleannotations 850A-850E include user generated metadata that enable usersto share information that may be stored separately from aninvestigation. As illustrated, user selection of the annotations 850Bcauses presentation of the annotation detail area 852. The exampleannotation detail area 852 depicts an event, such as the posting of avideo on a video-sharing website or a post on a social network site, ona particular date and additional details such as the user that createdthe event and a link to the event. Thus, a user viewing thevisualization 832 may discover new insights based on the annotations850A-850E. For example, a user may determine that the spike in the timeseries graph 832B after Jul. 1, 2015, may be caused at least in part bythe Jul. 1, 2015 event that is visually depicted by the annotation 850B.A user may create new annotations with the element 816.

In some embodiments, an annotation may be associated with other objectsor data in the graphical user interface system. For example, anannotation may be associated with supplemental information. Continuingwith the example of FIG. 5, the second visual representation 536corresponds to a promotional program and a user may generate anannotation associated with the promotional program (not illustrated).Thus, any user that generates an investigation that includes thepromotional program and/or supplemental information in the result setmay have the option and/or be dynamically presented with the particularassociated annotation. Thus, similar to the annotations 850A-850E thatenable users to share metadata information, the annotation associatedwith supplemental information enables users to share information andpossibly cause further insights to be discovered. Additional objects ordata that an annotation may be associated with include time periods.Additionally or alternatively, an annotation may be a standalone dataobject that is not directly associated with other objects or data.

In some embodiments, the annotations 850A-850E are located on arespective graph that corresponds to the object that caused theannotation to be returned from the query data storage 112 and/or anotherquery server. For example, in FIG. 8, since the graph 832B has the brandAcme's Candy Bar associated with it and the annotation 850B is alsoassociated with the brand Acme's Candy Bar, then the annotation 850B canintersect the graph 832B. Further, the annotation 850B may further beassociated with the date Jun. 25, 2015, and may be presented at theintersection of the graph 832B at the same particular date. Thus, theassociation of annotations 850A-850E with particular visualizationsand/or graphs can help the user easily identify which annotations gowith which visualizations and/or graphs.

Implementation Mechanisms

The various computing device(s) discussed herein, such as the GUI system100, the data importer 104, the user interface server 106, the querygenerator 108, and/or user computing device 102, are generallycontrolled and coordinated by operating system software, such as, butnot limited to, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows8, Unix, Linux, or other compatible operating systems. In otherembodiments, the computing devices may be controlled by a proprietaryoperating system. Conventional operating systems control and schedulecomputer processes for execution, perform memory management, providefile system, networking, I/O services, and provide a user interfacefunctionality, among other things. The GUI system 100 may be hostedand/or executed on one or more computing devices with one or morehardware processors and with any of the previously mentioned operatingsystem software.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram that illustrates example components of the GUIsystem 100. While FIG. 9 refers to the GUI system 100, any of the othercomputing devices, modules, services, and/or user computing devicesdiscussed herein may have some or all of the same or similar components.

The GUI system 100 may execute software, e.g., standalone softwareapplications, applications within browsers, network applications, etc.,whether by the particular application, the operating system, orotherwise. Any of the systems discussed herein may be performed by theGUI system 100 and/or a similar computing system having some or all ofthe components discussed with reference to FIG. 9.

The GUI system 100 includes a bus 902 or other communication mechanismfor communicating information, and a hardware processor, or multipleprocessors, 904 coupled with bus 902 for processing information.

The GUI system 100 also includes a main memory 906, such as a randomaccess memory (RAM), cache and/or other dynamic storage devices, coupledto bus 902 for storing information and instructions to be executed byprocessor(s) 904. Main memory 906 also may be used for storing temporaryvariables or other intermediate information during execution ofinstructions to be executed by processor(s) 904. Such instructions, whenstored in storage media accessible to processor(s) 904, render the GUIsystem 100 into a special-purpose machine that is customized to performthe operations specified in the instructions. Such instructions, asexecuted by hardware processors, may implement the methods and systemsdescribed herein for generating user interfaces, querying data, and/orpresenting visualization data.

The GUI system 100 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 908 orother static storage device coupled to bus 902 for storing staticinformation and instructions for processor(s) 904. A storage device 910,such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or flash drive, etc., is providedand coupled to bus 902 for storing information and instructions. Thedata importer 104 and/or the query generator 108 of FIG. 1 may be storedon the main memory 906 and/or the storage device 910.

The GUI system 100 and/or user computing device 102 may be coupled viabus 902 to a display 912, such as a LCD display or touch screen, fordisplaying information to a computer user. An input device 914 iscoupled to bus 1002 for communicating information and command selectionsto processor 904. One type of input device 914 is a keyboard includingalphanumeric and other keys. Another type of input device 914 is a touchscreen.

In general, the word “instructions,” as used herein, refers to logicembodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection of software units,possibly having entry and exit points, written in a programminglanguage, such as, but not limited to, Java, Lua, C, C++, or C#. Asoftware unit may be compiled and linked into an executable program,installed in a dynamic link library, or may be written in an interpretedprogramming language such as, but not limited to, BASIC, Perl, orPython. It will be appreciated that software units may be callable fromother units or from themselves, and/or may be invoked in response todetected events or interrupts. Software units configured for executionon computing devices by their hardware processor(s) may be provided on acomputer readable medium, such as a compact disc, digital video disc,flash drive, magnetic disc, or any other tangible medium, or as adigital download (and may be originally stored in a compressed orinstallable format that requires installation, decompression ordecryption prior to execution). Such software code may be stored,partially or fully, on a memory device of the executing computingdevice, for execution by the computing device. Software instructions maybe embedded in firmware, such as an EPROM. It will be furtherappreciated that hardware modules may be comprised of connected logicunits, such as gates and flip-flops, and/or may be comprised ofprogrammable units, such as programmable gate arrays or processors.Generally, the instructions described herein refer to logical modulesthat may be combined with other modules or divided into sub-modulesdespite their physical organization or storage.

The GUI system 100, or components of it, such as the data importer 104,the query generator 108, the user interface server 106 of FIG. 1, may beprogrammed, via executable code instructions, in a programming language.

The term “non-transitory media,” and similar terms, as used hereinrefers to any media that store data and/or instructions that cause amachine to operate in a specific fashion. Such non-transitory media maycomprise non-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile mediaincludes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device910. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 906.Common forms of non-transitory media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, hard disk, solid state drive, magnetic tape, orany other magnetic data storage medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical datastorage medium, any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, aPROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip orcartridge, and networked versions of the same.

Non-transitory media is distinct from but may be used in conjunctionwith transmission media. Transmission media participates in transferringinformation between non-transitory media. For example, transmissionmedia includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, includingthe wires that comprise bus 902. Transmission media can also take theform of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated duringradio-wave and infra-red data communications.

Bus 902 carries data to main memory 906, from which the processor(s) 904retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received bymain memory 906 may retrieve and execute the instructions. Theinstructions received by main memory 906 may optionally be stored onstorage device 910 either before or after execution by computer hardwareprocessor(s) 904.

The GUI system 100 also includes a communication interface 918 coupledto bus 902. Communication interface 918 provides a two-way datacommunication coupling to a network link 920 that is connected to alocal network 922. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any suchimplementation, communication interface 918 sends and receiveselectrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital datastreams representing various types of information.

Network link 920 typically provides data communication through one ormore networks to other data devices. For example, network link 920 mayprovide a connection through local network 922 to a host computer 924 orto data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 926.ISP 926 in turn provides data communication services through the worldwide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the“Internet” 928. Local network 922 and Internet 928 both use electrical,electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. Thesignals through the various networks and the signals on network link 920and through communication interface 918, which carry the digital data toand from the GUI system 100, are example forms of transmission media.

A network, such as the network 160 of FIG. 1, may comprise, but is notlimited to, one or more local area networks, wide area network, wirelesslocal area network, wireless wide area network, the Internet, or anycombination thereof.

The GUI system 100 can send messages and receive data, including programcode, through the network(s), network link 920 and communicationinterface 918. In the Internet example, a server 930 might transmit arequested code for an application program through Internet 928, ISP 926,local network 922 and communication interface 918.

The received code may be executed by processor(s) 904 as it is received,and/or stored in storage device 910, or other non-volatile storage forlater execution.

In some embodiments, the GUI system 100 and/or the user computing device102 may operate in a distributed computing environment including severalcomputer systems that are interconnected using one or more computernetworks. The GUI system 100 and/or the user computing device 102 couldalso operate within a computing environment having a fewer or greaternumber of devices than are illustrated in FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 9. Thus,the depiction of GUI system 100 and/or the user computing device 102 inFIG. 1 and/or FIG. 9 should be taken as illustrative and not limiting tothe present disclosure. For example, the GUI system 100 and/or the usercomputing device 102 could implement various Web services componentsand/or peer-to-peer network configurations to implement at least aportion of the processes described herein. For example, multiple serversand/or processes may process and/or analyze items and/or present a userinterface in a distributed manner, as described herein.

It will be appreciated that while the present disclosure typicallydiscusses querying data related to food products and uses particularmetrics as examples, the systems and methods described herein may beagnostic to the types of data being queried, metrics used, and/or mayquery data unrelated to food products, such as, electronic productdatabases, automobile databases, or any database of items. In someembodiments, the systems and methods described herein enable thetransformation of intuitive user interface selections into dynamicqueries, such that a user may search and/or analyze large integrateddata sets. For example, the metrics and/or user interfaces describedherein may be based on data unrelated to commerce, such as underlyingcriminal, cybersecurity, or governmental data, for example.

Each of the processes, methods, and algorithms described in thepreceding sections may be embodied in, and fully or partially automatedby, code instructions executed by one or more computer systems orcomputer processors comprising computer hardware. The processes andalgorithms may be implemented partially or wholly inapplication-specific circuitry.

The various features and processes described above may be usedindependently of one another, or may be combined in various ways. Allpossible combinations and subcombinations are intended to fall withinthe scope of this disclosure. In addition, certain method or processblocks may be omitted in some implementations. The methods and processesdescribed herein are also not limited to any particular sequence, andthe blocks or states relating thereto can be performed in othersequences that are appropriate. For example, described blocks or statesmay be performed in an order other than that specifically disclosed, ormultiple blocks or states may be combined in a single block or state.The example blocks or states may be performed in serial, in parallel, orin some other manner. Blocks or states may be added to or removed fromthe disclosed example embodiments. The example systems and componentsdescribed herein may be configured differently than described. Forexample, elements may be added to, removed from, or rearranged comparedto the disclosed example embodiments.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

The term “a” as used herein should be given an inclusive rather thanexclusive interpretation. For example, unless specifically noted, theterm “a” should not be understood to mean “exactly one” or “one and onlyone”; instead, the term “a” means “one or more” or “at least one,”whether used in the claims or elsewhere in the specification andregardless of uses of quantifiers such as “at least one,” “one or more,”or “a plurality” elsewhere in the claims or specification.

The term “comprising” as used herein should be given an inclusive ratherthan exclusive interpretation. For example, a general purpose computercomprising one or more processors should not be interpreted as excludingother computer components, and may possibly include such components asmemory, input/output devices, and/or network interfaces, among others.

Any process descriptions, elements, or blocks in the flow diagramsdescribed herein and/or depicted in the attached figures should beunderstood as potentially representing units, segments, or portions ofcode which include one or more executable instructions for implementingspecific logical functions or steps in the process. Alternateimplementations are included within the scope of the embodimentsdescribed herein in which elements or functions may be deleted, executedout of order from that shown or discussed, including substantiallyconcurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionalityinvolved, as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

It should be emphasized that many variations and modifications may bemade to the above-described embodiments, the elements of which are to beunderstood as being among other acceptable examples. All suchmodifications and variations are intended to be included herein withinthe scope of this disclosure. The foregoing description details certainembodiments of the invention. It will be appreciated, however, that nomatter how detailed the foregoing appears in text, the invention can bepracticed in many ways. As is also stated above, it should be noted thatthe use of particular terminology when describing certain features oraspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that theterminology is being re-defined herein to be restricted to including anyspecific characteristics of the features or aspects of the inventionwith which that terminology is associated. The scope of the inventionshould therefore be construed in accordance with the appended claims andany equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for a graphical user interface to queryan item database, the method comprising: receiving, from a userinterface, item input comprising an item related query parameter;executing a query based at least on the item related query parameter toretrieve item results; receiving, from the user interface, supplementalinput comprising an input time period and a supplemental item relatedquery parameter; retrieving a plurality of supplemental data items basedat least on the supplemental item related query parameter; identifying afirst subset of the plurality of supplemental data items and a secondsubset of the plurality of supplemental data items according to theinput time period, the first subset corresponding to a first timeperiod, and the second subset corresponding to a second time period;determining a first efficacy indicator for the first subset and a secondefficacy indicator for the second subset; determining a ranking based atleast on the first efficacy indicator and the second efficacy indicator;generating, according to the ranking, a first visual representationcorresponding to the first subset and a second visual representationcorresponding to the second subset; wherein the ranking comprises afirst rank and a second rank, and wherein generating the first visualrepresentation and the second visual representation further comprises:determining a first color or shading corresponding to at least one ofthe first rank or the first efficacy indicator; determining a secondcolor or shading corresponding to at least one of the second rank or thesecond efficacy indicator, the second color or shading different fromthe first color or shading; assigning the first color or shading to thefirst visual representation; and assigning the second color or shadingto the second visual representation; arranging the first visualrepresentation at least partly separated from the second visualrepresentation; and displaying on a display of the computing system, auser interface indicating the item results, the first visualrepresentation, and the second visual representation, wherein the firstvisual representation and the second visual representation are furtherpresented with respect to a timeline indicating the first time periodand the second time period, wherein the method is performed by acomputer hardware processor.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereingenerating the first visual representation further comprises: retrievinga default height; calculating a first height for the first visualrepresentation, wherein the first height is further based at least on arelationship R, wherein relationship R is defined substantially as:default height*E₁, where E₁ comprises the first efficacy indicator; andadjusting the first visual representation to the first height.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein arranging the first visual representation atleast partly separated from the second visual representation furthercomprises: determining that one of the first rank and the second rank islower; and bringing a respective visual representation to a foregroundor background, the one of the first rank and the second rankcorresponding to the respective visual representation.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the item results comprise a plurality of first datavalue pairs, and wherein presenting the item results in the userinterface further comprises presenting the plurality of first data valuepairs as a first graph, the method further comprising: receiving userinput comprising a cumulative option selection; calculating a pluralityof cumulative data value pairs, wherein calculating the plurality ofcumulative data value pairs comprises: calculating a current cumulativevalue from a previous cumulative value and a current data value from theplurality of first data value pairs; and presenting, in an updated userinterface, the plurality of cumulative data value pairs as a cumulativegraph.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first efficacyindicator for the first subset further comprises: determining a firstmetric for the first time period and an item; determining a historicalmetric for another time period different than the first time period andthe item; and determining a difference value between the first metricand the historical metric, wherein the first efficacy indicator is basedat least in part on the difference value.
 6. A system comprising: anon-transitory computer storage medium configured to at least storecomputer-executable instructions; and one or more computer hardwareprocessors in communication with the non-transitory computer storagemedium, the one or more computer hardware processors configured toexecute the computer-executable instructions to at least: receive, froma user interface, item input comprising an item related query parameter;retrieve item results based at least on the item related queryparameter; receive, from the user interface, supplemental inputcomprising an input time period and a supplemental item related queryparameter; retrieve a plurality of supplemental data items based atleast on the supplemental item related query parameter; identify a firstsubset of the plurality of supplemental data items and a second subsetof the plurality of supplemental data items according to the input timeperiod, the first subset corresponding to a first time period, and thesecond subset corresponding to a second time period; determine a firstefficacy indicator for the first subset and a second efficacy indicatorfor the second subset; determine a ranking based at least on the firstefficacy indicator and the second efficacy indicator; generate,according to the ranking, a first visual representation corresponding tothe first subset and a second visual representation corresponding to thesecond subset; wherein the ranking comprises a first rank and a secondrank, and wherein generating the first visual representation and thesecond visual representation further comprises: determining a firstcolor or shading corresponding to at least one of the first rank or thefirst efficacy indicator; determining a second color or shadingcorresponding to at least one of the second rank or the second efficacyindicator, the second color or shading different from the first color orshading; assigning the first color or shading to the first visualrepresentation; and assigning the second color or shading to the secondvisual representation; arrange the first visual representation at leastpartly separated from the second visual representation; and display on adisplay of the system, a user interface indicating the item results, thefirst visual representation, and the second visual representation,wherein the first visual representation the second visual representationare further presented with respect to a timeline indicating the firsttime period and the second time period.
 7. The system of claim 6,wherein generating the first visual representation further comprises:retrieving a default height; calculating a first height for the firstvisual representation, wherein the first height is further based atleast on a relationship R, wherein relationship R is definedsubstantially as: default height*E₁, where E₁ comprises the firstefficacy indicator; and adjusting the first visual representation to thefirst height.
 8. The system of claim 6, wherein arranging the firstvisual representation at least partly separated from the second visualrepresentation further comprises: determining that one of the first rankand the second rank is lower; and bringing a respective visualrepresentation to a foreground or background, the one of the first rankand the second rank corresponding to the respective visualrepresentation.
 9. The system of claim 6, wherein arranging the firstvisual representation further comprises: retrieving a start date and anend date for the first time period; and aligning the first visualrepresentation on the timeline according to the start date and the enddate.
 10. The system of claim 6, wherein the item results comprise aplurality of first data value pairs, and wherein one or more computerhardware processors are further configured to at least: calculate aplurality of cumulative data value pairs, wherein calculating theplurality of cumulative data value pairs comprises: calculate a currentcumulative value from a previous cumulative value and a current datavalue from the plurality of first data value pairs; and present, in anupdated user interface, the plurality of cumulative data value pairs asa cumulative graph.
 11. The system of claim 6, wherein presenting, inthe user interface, the item results further comprises: presenting theplurality of first data value pairs as a first graph.
 12. The system ofclaim 6, wherein determining the first efficacy indicator for the firstsubset further comprises: determining a first metric for the first timeperiod and an item; determining a historical metric for another timeperiod different than the first time period and the item; anddetermining a difference value between the first metric and thehistorical metric, wherein the first efficacy indicator is based atleast in part on the difference value.
 13. A computerized method,performed by a computing system having one or more hardware computerprocessors and one or more non-transitory computer readable storagedevice storing software instructions executable by the computing systemto perform the computerized method comprising: receiving an input timeperiod and a query parameter; determining a plurality of data itemsbased at least on the query parameter; identifying a first subset of theplurality of data items and a second subset of the plurality of dataitems according to the input time period, the first subset correspondingto a first time period, and the second subset corresponding to a secondtime period; determining a first efficacy indicator for the first subsetand a second efficacy indicator for the second subset; determining aranking based at least on the first efficacy indicator and the secondefficacy indicator; determining a first color or shading correspondingto at least one of the ranking or the first efficacy indicator;determining a second color or shading corresponding to at least one ofthe ranking or the second efficacy indicator, the second color orshading different from the first color or shading; generating, accordingto the ranking, a first visual representation having the first color orshading and corresponding to the first subset, and a second visualrepresentation having the second color or shading and corresponding tothe second subset; and displaying on a display of the computing system,a user interface including the first visual representation and thesecond visual representation, wherein the first visual representationand the second visual representation are further presented with respectto a timeline indicating the first time period and the second timeperiod.